'Sherlock Holmes 3' on back burner at the moment: Director Dexter Fletcher

LONDON: Filmmaker Dexter Fletcher, who is on board to direct the third installment in the "Sherlock Holmes" film franchise, has said the period action mystery movie is facing "issues" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The new project will see Robert Downey Jr return as the titular famed British detective and Jude Law reprise his role of Dr Watson, the partner and confidant of Holmes.

Last year, the release date of the much-awaited film was pushed back from December 25, 2020 to December 22, 2021.

"Sherlock''s hit its own issues on and off. That's sort of sitting on the back burner at the moment until it becomes clear where the world is at and what's going to happen," Fletcher said during the Celebrity Catch Up Podcast.

The director is also working on "The Saint", the reboot to the 1997 action feature for Paramount Pictures, and said both the projects are in a limbo due to the ongoing health crisis.

"They're both up against the same dilemma, the same issue that we all (have): How do you get large groups of people together to create something and then shift them all around the world? "And what do you do with actors that are in a love scene? It's complicated," he added.

"Sherlock Holmes", the first film in the series, was released in 2009 and its follow-up "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" hit the screens two years later.

Both the films were helmed by Guy Ritchie.